Former Minister Moirangthem Hemanta escaped an assassination attempt on Thursday evening, police reports said on Friday.
A China-made hand grenade was hurled at a brick farm owned by Hamanta at Khongjom at 4:30 pm on Wednesday. The Thoubal district police bomb squad neutralized it at a safe place at 8 pm.
Mr. Hemanta was not in the farm at the time. Nobody was injured.
“This is the sixth assassination attempt on me,” said Mr. Hemanta. “There have been four gun and two bomb attacks. When I was a Minister, there was an ambush that killed and injured some security personnel. The last attempt was made at my house at Konung Mamang in Imphal.”
He said he did not know who had tried to kill him and why.
In the November by-polls, Hemanta contested on the Congress ticket from the Wangjing Tentha constituency. He lost to a BJP candidate.
So far there has been no claim from any rebels for the latest attack on Hemanta.